I was thinking
about Nan Goldins “The Ballad of Sex Dependancy”,
“Tulsa” by Larry Clark,
and “Teenage Lust” , also by Larry Clark.

When I first saw those books,
as a student,
I was sort of overwhelmed
by the possibility to see the sexual act
and other intimacies
just like that,
on photographs.

Meanwhile I have seen a lot more of that,
and these images lost most of their magic for me.

I guess in those years,
explicite photographs
as part of a documentary project,
were rather provocative.

They are not any more.

Following lines I copied from “body tracks”:

For Touch Cinema,
Valie Export allowed people to touch
her breasts
through a portable curtained contraption
for 30 seconds per person.

In the artist’s own words:

As usual, the film is ‘shown’ in the dark. But the cinema has shrunk somewhat – only two hands fit inside it. To see (i.e. feel, touch) the film, the viewer (user) has to stretch his hands through the entrance to the cinema. At last, the curtain which formerly rose only for the eyes now rises for both hands.
The tactile reception is the opposite of the deceit of voyeurism. For as long as the citizen is satisfied with the reproduced copy of sexual freedom, the state is spared the sexual revolution. ‘Tap and Touch Cinema’ is an example of how re-interpretation can activate the public.’

In the safety of your home
you are watching porn.

The action
is gone.

You haven´t been part of it.

You are touching yourself,
thats what pornography is
meant for.

It´s nothing but a fake:
sex is being acted out for you.
You are not part of it.

Valie Export
brought
the essence of virtual sex
into reality,
causing embarrassment
and unease.

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While using his image in my series about sex,
I neither confronted myself with his intentions,
nor did I inform myself more than superficially regarding his complete work.

I didn´t want to use Larry Sultans photograph of Sharon Wilde.
Because of it´s easy beauty
it is easy to consume.

But after having seen some other photographs
depicting Mrs. Wilde,
I changed my mind.

The porn pics Mrs Wild is hopefully earning a lot of money with
are blunt and ugly.

(I cropped the image above,
cropped away the lower half.)

Human beings depicted in pornographic images
are reduced to objects.
They simply loose their dignity.

In this context,
Larry Sultans photograph of Mrs. Wilde gets a quality
that makes me sad.

Pornographic images don´t show any respect.
Everybody deserves more than that.

Larry Sultan died December last year.

More about “The Valley” you´ll find at AmericansuburbXcalifornia.

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image by
Larry Sultan,
The Valley
Chandler Boulevard, 2000

Larry Sultan was avoiding to photograph
the sexual act directly.

Staying discreet on a location for a porn movie,
thats like putting on a tie on a nude beach.

But Larry Sultan was as interested in intimate moments,
the moments in between.
(There is nothing intimate about fucking before movie cameras)

The situation above is a moment like this,
a sexually explicit joke in a relaxed situation.

A gesture,
that is normally reserved
to the male part of humanity.

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image by
Larry Sultan,
The Valley
Patio, Bosque Drive, 2003

Literally,
nudity in photography is seldom this laid-back.

Naked women in magazines,
(the nude male body is hardly used to sell products),
are trying to present an image depicting perfection.

The template for all these photographs
is the well developed body of young women around twenty,
the reason for this is obvious.

Because even the bodies
of these perfect young female specimen are not perfect enough,
photography and photoshop
are doing the rest to create an image of perfect beauty.

The next step in this race for the immaculate
is surgery.
Reality is modelled after virtual reality.

Teen girls are starving themselves to death,
women are buying themselves big breasts,
or small ones,
they manipulate their lips,
their skin,
fat is cut away or added.

And all are left behind in frustration,
because naked,
in front of a mirror,
or even worse,
naked,
on a photograph,
we never look like
those virtual beauties.

And we get older,
if we don´t die
before becoming older,
we see the traces,
of aging,
traces that don´t fit in this world
of youthfulness.

And here this photograph
of a relaxed,
naked women,
with sagging,
beautiful breasts.

And here this photograph
about self-acceptance
and the natural beauty of the human body.

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image by
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The Valley
Patio, Delita Drive, 2000

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image by
Larry Sultan,
The Valley
Little Cinderella, 1999

Cinderella is no porn-star. She just lives in the Valley.
My favorit image in Larry Sultan´s book.

Cindarella can´t be a porn- star.
There is too much of life´s hardships inscribed into her face.

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image by
Larry Sultan,
The Valley
West Valley Studio # 12, 2002




I was thinking that a series of postings
about sex and photography
would be an easy thing.
It´s not.

Its hard to find images that either touch your intellect,
or your emotions, maybe both.

I don´t mean the pure sexual instincts.

Larry Sultan has compiled a series of photographs
he took on a set for a porn-movie in a book called “The Valley”.

His images closely related to the porn-action
are very calculated and easy to grasp.
They are made not to show to much of the so called action,
their construction is easily to detect.

Might be just the truth,
that it is just not really interesting,
how a home turned to a porn movie set
looks alike,
and what is happening there.

The mechanics of sex are simple,
hardly worth mentioning,
but the emotions and the sensuality,
that come along with this basic act,
could become a topic worthwhile for a project.

Porn is purely about the mechanics.
No emotions, no secrets.

So, all those very well made photographs by Larry Sultan
can´t hide,
that the topic,
while triggering curiosity,
is a boring one.

Larry Sultan´s photographs become more interesting,
when taken out of their context.

Like the image above:
dark males staring into the light,
staring at a naked woman, vulnerable
in her nakedness..

It´s about the voyeurism,
inherent to photography,
even more so,
when connected with nudity,
or pornographic action.

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Image number 76
from:

THE COMPLETE LIFE AND WORK,
SEEN THROUGH THE
PINK GLASSES OF DESIRE

URS LÜTHI, 1993

Without the filter of your sexual hormones,
without being intoxicated by your lust,
the sexual act,
turns into a ridiculous form of gymnastics.

Neither the act as an act,
nor the settings,
dreary everyday bedrooms,
have anything in common,
with the public image of making love.

The mechanics of fucking are real,
all the rest is merely
happening in your mind.

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Image number 75
from:

THE COMPLETE LIFE AND WORK,
SEEN THROUGH THE
PINK GLASSES OF DESIRE

URS LÜTHI, 1993

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THE COMPLETE LIFE AND WORK,
SEEN THROUGH THE
PINK GLASSES OF DESIRE

URS LÜTHI, 1993

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URS LÜTHI, 1993

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Images number 69 and number 70
from:

THE COMPLETE LIFE AND WORK,
SEEN THROUGH THE
PINK GLASSES OF DESIRE

URS LÜTHI, 1993

I am interested in sex.
Everybody is.

Sex is for me
a private matter.

On the Internet,
sex seemingly has lost all of its privacy.

But it is still private:
the acteurs remain anonym,
as do the spectators.

The combination of photography and sex
results mostly in pornography:
images serving masturbation.

Erotic images,
as they called,
are pornographic images,
softened up,
food for our never ending occupation with sex.

Pornographic images
you hide
under your mattress,
erotic ones,
you might put up
the wall in your bedroom.

For inspiration.

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